To nick.plummer...Nicholas...you're quite right, of course, thatideas do not grow in a vacuum. Everyone in SF stands on the shoulders ofthose who went before. Heinlein invented slidewalks; after that, theywere all OVER SF. But for the most part, they're background elements, orsort of the collective unconscious of SF; the line comes when taking arace wholecloth and just filing off the serial numbers (or, in this case,some vowels).

We try to walk a fine line on this show, between being as originaland innovative as we can...while once in a while giving a nod of respectand acknowledgment to those who preceded us (like the Prisoner). Myonly suggestion, in future, is that such issues (as we say in Jeapordy)be phrased in the form of a question, rather than an allegation.